


The Origin of Dragon

by BelleWrites (sunleyemrys)



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: She steals a dog because of course she does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 19:14:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16046819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunleyemrys/pseuds/BelleWrites
Summary: How DID Marian get her mabari? Well, a bit of theft.





	The Origin of Dragon

They were on the road from Denerium to Lotherin, one final move Malcolm assured them. Marian didn’t completely believe it, but she liked to think she was wiser than her father. That’s when they heard talk of a mabari fighting ring. Nothing of them liked it, but it was done by the local Lord, and they didn’t want to make waves.

“Why on earth would people pit their pets against other. Seems so mean.” Bethany announced loudly, already on the verge of tears. Carver rolled his eyes at his twin and stomped away, not willing to be the surrogate stuffed animal for her yet again.

Leandra stirred the pot of stew, ignoring it all. Marian prowled their campsite, swinging her staff lazily as she whistled. She had first watch, and second watch the way Bethany was being. Malcolm sat on a log nearby, his knife slowly sharpened a bit of wood.

“Marian.” He whispered, calling her over. He pulled out a small sack of coins, placing it in her hand. “Go into the village and see what you can find out about the Chantry in Lothering. I want to be certain the information is correct.”

She nodded, tying the sack to her belt. He caught her staff in his hand. “Leave that. If you cant glamour it into something else, its not wise to carry it.”

“But what if…” He held out the sharped piece of wood. Sigils were carved through the entire length. “A wand? Really Da? I haven’t used a wand in… ten years.”

Malcolm rolled his golden eyes at her and grabbed her braid coiling it into a bun and shoving the wand into her hair. “Try five years, and it’s the best way to stay defended and cast magic without injuring yourself. Just, don’t try any really large spells.”

“I know. I know. Alright, I’ll go and see what I can find out.” He patted her cheek as she stood up. “Though I don’t promise to be careful, or smart about any of this in the slightest.”

“Just go.” He sighed, picking up another stick and beginning to work it.

***

The village was barely a village, it was more three buildings and a Chantry, and one of those buildings was missing a wall. So, two and three-quarters of a building, and a Chantry that was obviously seeing all the sovereigns in the region. She wasn’t a huge fan of the Chantry, or of the monarchy, which seemed to be seeking glory for the sake of glory. Marian was at least half way certain the current King was an idiot, it was part of why Da and Mother had suddenly decided to move them.

Her big mouth. And her magic. But, what else was new?

Then she saw it and stopped in her tracks.

The fighting ring for the mabari. It was filthy, dried blood, bits of flesh, what looked like bone. Then the smell hit her. Marian gagged, covering her nose. It was disgusting, and she was beginning to see red. The pens holding the canines was just as bad. Many of them huddled in cages far too small for them.

“Nope. Nu uh.” She marched over to the cages, looking them over. “This is terrible! Bad enough they are fighting each other, but this? No.” She looked around for a rock or something heavy enough to break the locks.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to get you all out of here.” Several of the animals raised their heads at her voice. Tail nubs beginning to wag. “Oh, you are all such good boys aren’t you? Yes, you are.”

She needed to work fast, but there wasn’t anything to break the locks with, aside from her wand. “Damnit. Well, its for a good cause, Da will understand. Wont he? Yes, he will.” She patted one of the more energetic mabaris’ on the head.

Marian pulled the wand from her hair and focused, making the Stone Fist small, but strong, firing it at the first lock. The sound of it hitting the lock was deafening to her, as was the noise of the lock breaking and hitting the mud. She opened the cage door carefully. “Come on, go on, you’re free now.”

Several of the dogs tripped over themselves rushing out of the cage, each one stopping to pressing its nose against her cheek. Marian’s cheek hurt from smiling. She was doing a good thing. She moved onto the next cage and repeated the process and result, feeling elated at her cleverness.

Her luck ran out on the fourth cage, angry shouts sounded behind her. “Shit!” She yanked open the cage, letting the small horde out. She was ready to run but a small huddled mass in the furthest corner caught her eye.

“Damn.” She reached her hands in but the cage was too narrow. “Come on baby. I’m getting you out of here.” The mabari raised its head and looked at her, its eyes wide and sad. A large white blotch marked the canine’s face, random patches covered its body.

The mabari was obviously the runt of the pack and with its markings, singled out as different from the others. She whistled gently, “come on sweetie. I wont hurt you. I promise, and I wont let anyone ever hurt you again.”

The tail nub waggled slowly, and the dog shifted, standing and walking cautiously toward her out-stretched hand. “Good…” Marian cocked her head to look. “Girl. You are such a good girl. Come on now.”

She pressed her nose against Marian’s palm, taking a deep inhale before huffing loudly and licking her hand. She touched the top of the mabari’s head, scratching her ears gently. “Lets get out of here, yeah?” She pulled the small dog from the cage, cradling her in gently.

“And just what do you think you’re doing!” A large man shouted, grabbing Marian’s arm and wrenching her around. “That doesn’t belong to you! Where are the rest of my mabari?”

Her temper flared, and she shifted the bundle of dog carefully to her shoulder. “I set them free because you are abusing them. This is disgusting! You should be ashamed of yourself! Treating innocent animals like this!”

The mabari scrambled up her shoulder and into the hood of her cloak, her muzzle resting next to Marian’s neck, a low growl coming from her throat. The man reached for the dog and she snarled, jaws snapping quickly.

“See? She doesn’t like you!” She took a step back, fingers curling around the wand, she could tell the wood was weakening already, but she didn’t have much of a choice.

The man roared with anger, fists raised, and Marian fired a lightning bolt, the wand splintering. She turned on her heel and ran as fast as she could. Any direction to stay away from the man. She could hear him shouting, and voices rose, the sound of weapons and armor being gathered. She kept running until the voice faded and she was panting, completely out of breath.

She stopped finally, leaning against a tree. The pup whined, licking the sweat from her face. “Good girl.” She said between gasps, settling down on the ground, the mabari climbing from her hood to curl up in her lap. “Well, I guess I have a mabari now. What kind of name do you want girl?”

Marian stroked the soft fur as she thought, “Rose?” The answering snort was a no, she could tell. “Alright. Hmm, Arabella?” She growled slightly. “Oh, definitely not.” She continued to ponder, tossing out names before even saying them. “You know what my favorite animal is? A Dragon. Fierce, powerful, free. Protective of their homes. Beautiful. You know, I want to be a dragon someday.”

The pup wriggled in her lap, barking excitedly. “Dragon? You want to be named Dragon?” She howled loudly, licking Marian’s face. “Okay, okay! Dragon it is. We need to find Da and Mother. Da’ll be disappointed and Mother will make that face she always does when I screw up.”

Dragon hopped from her lap and ran a circle around the tree, nose sniffing quickly before stopping and pointing in a direction. “I take it they are that way then. Okie dokie.”

***

They followed the path for a while before finally seeing the campfire. Marian stood at the edge of the light, exhaling slowly. “Da?”

“Marian?” Malcolm came rushing over, and Dragon flattened her ears back, growly low. “You… have a mabari. I take it you were unable to find out anything useful.” He held his hand out for Dragon to sniff, waiting until she relaxed before petting her gently.

Marian winced, “Yeah, see, about that. I went into the village, and there was this filthy fighting ring, and the mabari in cages, and I set them free, and Dragon was so small and afraid, and she choose me. And then the guy got angry and tried to grab us, so she bit him and I used magic and then they chased us. And and, yeah.”

Malcolm blinked, running a hand across his face. “The mabari’s name is Dragon?” The canine barked happily at the use of her name.

“Yeesss….?” She had no idea what was about to happen, so she was bracing herself for everything.

“Well, alright then. You do know Carver will be green with jealousy. But, she choose you, you named her. Dragon is your mabari, and that means you have to be responsible for her. Understood?”

She felt herself relax, “Yes Da, I understand.”


End file.
